TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Friday night at the Seminole Soccer Complex was one of those special nights FSU fans have become accustomed to since head coach Patrick Baker took over the program in 1999. Florida State (4-2-2, 1-0-0) staged two comebacks, played in front of a record crowd (1,051), won its first-ever ACC home opener and recorded the program’s first-ever hat trick in an ACC game as the Tribe downed No. 17 Clemson 4-3 in overtime.

Freshman Leah Gallegos recorded just the seventh hat trick in program history and the first of her eight game collegiate career delighting the fourth-largest crowd in Seminole Soccer Complex history. The win marked the second straight conference opening win after FSU was a combined 0-6-0 in ACC openers prior to 2001.

“I think in looking at the tape, both teams had opportunities to win that game,” said Baker. “We feel very fortunate that we came up on the winning side of the ledger.

The challenge for the Seminoles will now be to continue to build on the momentum from the dramatic win over Clemson as they embark on the most challenging portion of their schedule. The Tigers were the first of five ranked teams the Garnet and Gold will face over the next 25 days. Included in that group is No. 24 Florida (September 22), No. 11 Duke (October 8), No. 15 Wake Forest (October 11) and No. 1 North Carolina (October 15). On top of that, FSU can’t over look tomorrow’s opponent USF (4-4-0) or 2001 NCAA tournament team UCF (October 4).

“We have been preaching to our team all day today that while the win over Clemson was great, they better be ready for a very good USF team Sunday,” said Baker. “We have to make the Clemson win stand up. That means we have to perform and get another result against South Florida.”

The Seminoles will come into Sunday afternoon’s game versus the Bulls owning a 4-0-1 record all time against South Florida. Despite the lopsided series record, FSU has won all four of those matches by just one goal and last season the Tribe was tied 0-0 with USF until the 62nd minute when Cindy Schofield netted the game-winner. Schofield, who was an All-ACC first team selection in 2001 with 17 goals, is starting to find her stride this season as she has now scored in back-to-back games. As Schofield goes so goes the FSU offense. After recording just eight goals in the first six games, the Tribe has netted seven in the last two matches and a lot of that has to do with Schofield re-establishing herself as a scoring threat.

“We’ve had a lot of scoring opportunities this season and it is nice to see some of those chances starting to be converted,” said Baker. “We’ve been able to breakout a little over the last two games and when you have a Cindy Schofield, a Jez Ratliff and a Leah Gallegos up top, good things will eventually happen offensively.”

Live Stats for Sunday’s game with USF will be available exclusively at seminoles.com. For updated stats, game stories, photo galleries and player features, please visit the only source for complete information on the Florida State soccer team at the University’s official home on the web.

NOTES FROM THE FSU’S WIN OVER CLEMSON

PULLING TRICKS OUT OF HER HAT

Freshman Leah Gallegos had a record-setting night against No. 17 Clemson. The Seminoles first-ever player from the state of California seemed like anything but a freshman playing her first game in the nation’s premier soccer conference. Her three goals in less than 30 minutes marked just the seventh hat trick in the program’s seven-year history and the first ever recorded by an FSU player in an ACC contest. She is just the fifth Seminole freshman to ever record a hat trick and the first newcomer to do it in four years. Thanks to her big night, Gallegos is now leading the team in goals (4), is tied for the lead in points (9) and is second in game-winning goals.

SLOW START, I DON’T THINK SO

A lot has been made of the Seminoles start in 2002 but the numbers through eight games say otherwise. The 2002 squad’s .625 winning percentage is identical to the team’s winning percentage in 2000 and 2001 when those teams started out the season at 5-3 and ended the year in the NCAA Tournament. Offensively the 2002 squad is also in the same neighborhood as the 2000 and 2001 teams. Through eight games in 2000, the Seminoles recorded 18 goals and in 2001 they netted 16. The 2002 team has 15 so far this season.

I LOVE GOLD

Leah Gallegos golden goal versus Clemson was impressive in so many ways but most impressively it continued an amazing trend. With the 93rd-minute goal Friday night, five of FSU’s seven overtime game-winners have now come surprisingly enough during ACC competition. FSU had two Golden Goals in 1998, two in 2000 and two in 2001. During the 1998 season, Sally Shelgren netted one in a 1-0 win over FIU and Alex Osorio got another in a 3-2 win over Maryland. In 2000, Marte Vik Edvardsen scored a golden goal to beat USF 2-1 and Kristin Boyce got the most famous one in FSU history to down UNC 3-2. Last season, freshman Jez Ratliff accounted for one against NC State (3-2) and Schofield had the other versus Duke in 2001 (3-2).

ODDS AND ENDS

Head coach Patrick Baker’s mastery of overtime continued versus Clemson Friday night. Since Baker’s arrival in 1999, FSU has never lost an OT game and the coach is now 5-0-6 all time in extra time…The Seminoles bucked some heavy odds to record their conference-opening victory over Clemson. The win marked the fourth victory in 13 tries under Baker when FSU is trailing at the half, the 10th win in 36 games when an opponent scores first and the first-ever win in Baker’s tenure when an opponent scores three or more goals…Baker’s success against ranked opponents continued Friday as the victory over 17th-ranked Clemson was the coach’s ninth win all-time versus a ranked opponent…Under Baker, the Seminoles are now 5-3-1 all-time at home versus conference opponents. Before his arrival, the team was 2-11-0 in similar situations…Florida State is now 27-1-1 all-time under Baker when the team scores three or more goals…Cindy Schofield’s goal against Clemson was the 27th of her illustrious career. She is now just two goals away from becoming the most prolific goal scorer in the history of the program. Schofield already owns the Florida High Schools scoring record with 238 goals as a prep player. The senior from Lakeland already owns the career record at FSU for shots. She is two assists and four points away from taking over sole possession of first place in both of those categories also.